20/11 – [Trans] JYJ Talked About The Hallyu Slump [We Were Different From The Start]

Korean popular group [JYJ] talked about why they still receive unchanging love after debuting for 10 years.

JYJ held a press conference before their performance in Tokyo Dome in the afternoon on 19th. Questions were asked by reporters on the secret of them maintaining and boasting this unchanged popularity, despite the slump of Hallyu in Japan.

[JYJ] debut in 2005 as the group [Tohoshinki] in Japan officially, and will celebrate their 10th anniversary this year. Jaejoong said “We did not enter the Japan market riding on K-POP Hallyu book. Our case was a start by capturing a base in the Japan system, and this seemed a little different from those Hallyu artists in the Japan market now. Because we started with music written in Japanese right from the beginning, the mass probably view us differently”. After this, when asked to give some advice to those junior singers, he advised “I think it should be in a sequence where you start performing in a small space with fans, and then making it bigger gradually”.

[JYJ] performed in Tokyo Dome in 2010 and 2013, but Japan Dome Tour is a first this time. This is also the first time they performed in front of the Japanese media.

The Dome Tour and single release this time has a deep meaning being the start of full-scale Japanese activities of [JYJ], who could not conduct Japanese activities freely until now.

[JYJ] held 2 performances in Tokyo Dome on 18th and 19th, attracting 100,000 audience. 50,000 people in 1 performance is the largest capacity Tokyo Dome can accomodate, and the sold-out concerts is proof of their unchanged popularity.

[JYJ] will continue their Dome Tour from November into December in major cities Osaka and Fukuoka, and has plan to release their first Japan single in December.